My first natural edge bowl

I started this project about 3 months ago. I rough turned it from a log I picked up from one of my insurance wind claims (I can’t wait until the next windy season). I don’t know what kind of wood it is and neither did my insured (any suggestions?).

I rough turned two blanks but one of them I cut a little too close to the heart wood and it split at the bottom. This one was free of splits and I through it on the lathe and this was the result. This wood took finish in a weird way. The finish seemed to create a little gray-black marks on the fairly light colored wood. I don’t know if the color was already there and the finish enhanced it or what. As you can see there is a lot of dark grain in the wood.

These bowls are fun but you sure hold your breath a lot when you get out to the edge.

ps. The very first bowl I ever turned is in the upper left corner of the photos.

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17 comments so far

Did you cut the log before turning to get that shape? Or did you do it while turning in some kind of way? It really looks very professionally done. Was the wood green when you turned it or had it been drying? I guess it was green since it split on you. If green, you may want to try soaking it in dishwashing liquid and water for a while before trying to dry completely. You’ll have less spliting problems.

Thanks for the drying tip. I cut the small log in half on my band saw and then cut it lenghwise to make the dimensions as even as possible. I did rough turn it green and then wrapped it in newspaper and placed it in a paper bag on the shelf of my shop for 3 months. I think the other blank cracked because there was too much heart wood in the middle of the bowl and I was experimenting with wrapping one blank in newspaper and the other in cloth rags (cloth rag blank split).

It’s amazing how well blanks dry with newspaper wrapped around them. If you remember the lidded bowl i did out of Ambrosia Maple…it was a very wet blank which I rough turned and then wrapped in paper. It was dry in about a month.

That’s awesome for a first natural edge bowl; it has that “bird-beak” style. I have yet to turn a natural edge bowl, though definitely have an interest in it! Don’t know what kind of wood that is, but re: the color…someone once told me that you have to cut Holly open at the right time of the year (growing season) to get that pure white wood that Holly is known for (inlay stock), otherwise it’ll turn gray when you open it up. It must “oxidize” in some strange way? That could be what’s going on here?

Very cool…LJ—Tony just wrote a blog called “Tree Cutting” where he used this link to research the type of wood he had since he received some free fallen wood—-he may have some tips on how to research this…but here is the link he gave in his blog:

I’ve been turning for some time now and have yet to come close to anything that good Steffen. Have you ever seen any of Steffen Hatchers work. Truely amazing. So is your bowl. Very nice, wish I could watch you make it. jockmike

-- (You just have to please the man in the Mirror) Mike from Michigan -

I like this site as it shows the different views of the wood in ’transverse section’, ’radial section’ and ’tangential section’ which allows me to do three cuts on a piece of wood that I am looking to identify.